


Friction

by SerMisty



Series: PolyPearls [16]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Blue Pearl is mute, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of past abuse, Multi, White Pearl Theory, YD is shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 03:45:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6783829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerMisty/pseuds/SerMisty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's clear that Peridot and Yellow don't like each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friction

**Author's Note:**

> [milleudatheslitter asked:  
> Prompt: Yellow Pearl and Peridot friction. Maybe something like heights, limb enhancers and looking down at someone?] 
> 
> Omg I loved this prompt. Since I have my theories on Yellow Diamond and how she treats her subordinates, I already wanted to write something about Yellow and Peridot - so thank you for giving me the opportunity! I hope you like it!

While the rest of the Crystal Gems has welcomed Blue and Yellow as a part of the family, Peridot stays away from them as much as she can. Not even Steven’s attempts – and they are a lot – to ease the relationship has the outcome he wishes for: Peridot never says more than two words to them, and since they are always gravitating around Pearl, she begins to talk less with Pearl, too. 

Nobody really seems to mind. They don’t know if Peridot’s _tolerance_ of Pearl’s status means that she’s okay with three of them living in a complete different way from all she has ever known, and they surely don’t want her to snap against them – mostly because it’s likely that Pearl would poof her for good. 

So they leave the situation as it is, ready to intervene should it change. And it does. 

 

*** 

 

Maybe it’s just a case, or maybe it’s the relief valve that needs to vent. Either way, they are working on the drill when Blue suddenly trips, falling on the ground together with a bunch of metallic laminae. Peridot witnesses the accident, raises her welder mask and snorts. 

«You’re not good at anything» she spits. «Leave those to me». 

Surprisingly – but maybe not so much, it’s Blue, after all – Blue doesn’t get offended. She scratches the back of her head, embarrassed, and gets up. She bows a little and then, spotting Pearl on the opposite side, flees towards her.  
In front of her gestures, Peridot grins. Her chest inflates, satisfied, but before she can lower her mask again a shadow appears next to her and makes her turn around. 

«Don’t you even think about it». 

Yellow stands upright, arms crossed, frowning, serious and solemn. Peridot eyes her from bottom to top – she turns around before it’s too obvious. 

«What do you want?» she hisses. It’s the first time Yellow ever talks to her by her own – after that disastrous call, it is.  
«Try and give one single order to Blue» Yellow says, «and I swear I’m cutting all your hair first, and then I’ll poof you». 

Peridot automatically runs one hand in her triangle shaped hair. When she faces her, she’s smirking. 

«She is the first gem I’ve seen here to finally act as she should!» she affirms. «Respect and bow in front of your superior. That’s what a Pearl should do!» 

Instead of shouting at her, as Peridot herself expects, Yellow stays still. Slow, painfully slow, she scans Peridot top to bottom, and she is careful to make it very clear. 

«Superior?» 

Her smirk flusters Peridot immediately. She jumps, she stirs, she blushes. 

«You – You know what I mean!» she retorts, her fist clenching around the blowtorch she’s holding. «You are a class of servants! I outrank you!»  
«That’s exactly where you are wrong, Facet 2F5L» Yellow replies, harsh, hissing Peridot’s rank name. «Blue is Blue Diamond’s Pearl. White is White Diamond’s Pearl. And I am nothing less than Yellow Diamond’s personal Pearl, chosen appositely for her» she bites her lip, her eyes flutter around, but it’s just a moment. «In the light of that, _we_ outrank _you_. You try and boss us around, and I’ll show you what a Diamond’s Pearl can do». 

She turns and walks away without waiting for a reply – without waiting for permission! – leaving Peridot flushed and speechless. The technician watches her as she reaches Blue and Pearl, looks at Blue kissing her and Pearl giggling when Yellow mutters something that it’s probably an awkward excuse for her embarrassment.  
Peridot snarls, massaging the cheek that Pearl punched some time ago – _I am a Pearl_ , she said, like she should have been proud of that! – and pulls down her mask, going back to work.

It’s a declaration of war. 

 

***

 

Peridot makes her counterattack the following day. 

She waits until Pearl leaves to ask Garnet something, and Blue projects a hologram of a flower and wanders off to probably search it, and then and only then she makes her move.  
Face hidden behind a paper full of numbers that she is not reading, Peridot walks towards Yellow, who is kneeled on the ground and grunts as she tries to straighten a metaling lamina with steady hammer blows, and as she passes next to her she says, indifferently: «Bring me a screwdriver». 

Yellow’s arm remains still in midair, hammer in hand. She slowly raises her head. 

«Excuse me?» she hisses. 

Peridot stops walking – she had already slowed down – and turns around with the most smugly expression she can manage. 

«Are you deaf?» 

The hammer falls on the ground with a thud. Yellow growls. 

«Don’t defy me» she threatens. «You will regret it».  
«Will I?» Peridot keeps grinning, moving closer. « _You’re_ the one who should be careful. It doesn’t matter what the others say, you are and always will be a Pearl. A doll».  
«White already punched you in the face for this, do you need a reminder?»  
«She is defective. I could expect no less. But you» she crosses her arms, inflates her chest, barely taller than her now that she’s kneeled, «are not. You are made to follow orders and I will make you remember that». 

Yellow could answer many things. She could make her notice that she has already rebelled once, she could threaten her to never call White defective again, she could even ask why her eyes are fluttering around, as she’s nervous, as she doesn’t really believe what she’s saying. 

Instead, she spits right at her face. 

Peridot shrieks, stumbles. 

«You wish». 

Peridot growls and her arm jolts forward. It’s not clear what she’s aiming for, so Yellow doesn’t know how to react until Peridot’s hand closes around her right shoulder pad and tugs.  
There is a clear tearing sound and then the thin veil rips, leaving Yellow with only a shred of it and the rest in Peridot’s hand.  
Yellow doesn’t move anymore. Peridot scrubs her face with the shoulder pad and then throws it at Yellow’s feet with an expression of disgust. 

«Don’t forget what you are» she says, then walks away. 

Yellow goes back to work without adding a word. She’s shaking a little.  
Peridot watches. She think it was funnier when she replied. 

 

***

 

«Log Date, 7-1-6-2. It appears that-»  
«Isn’t it sad that you can only talk to a machine to be listened?» 

Peridot rolls her eyes and interrupts the recording. She’s sitting on a box inside the barn, holding her foot – the only remaining piece of her limb enhancers – and raising her head she meets Yellow’s stare. She stays upright in front of her, arms crossed.  
Peridot’s eyes immediately check her shoulder: she notices that the wrinkled shoulder pad has been sewed back with questionable ability.  
She smirks. 

«Isn’t is sad that you couldn’t regenerate to fix it?» she retorts. «I’ll gladly give you a hand to retreat in your gem».  
«And how are you going to hit me? Climbing that?» 

Yellow snaps against her and grabs the foot from Peridot’s hands. She brings it over her head, Peridot squeals. 

«Give it back!» she exclaims, she gets up, tries to jump.  
«Come and take it».  
«I said give it back! It’s an order!» 

Yellow pushes her back with her free hand. Peridot bounces on the box, stands up right after.  
She trembles for a second. 

«I don’t follow your orders» Yellow affirms.  
«Whose orders do you follow, then?» Peridot replies. «Yellow Diamond’s?»  
«I don’t belong to her anymore».  
«You admit it!» Peridot jumps, satisfied. Yellow frowns in confusion. «If you’re not Yellow Diamond’s Pearl, then you are a lost one. That means everyone can give you orders! And I will: give it back. Now!» 

Yellow growls. She doesn’t lower her arm. 

«I’m not lost, I’m free» she corrects.  
«Free is such an _Earthly_ word» Peridot grimaces. «Free to do what? Free to steal my things? Free to – to _fuse_ with other Pearls?» 

Yellow stiffens, she blushes. 

«We never fused» she replies, cheeks orange. Not all three of them, not yet. «And it’s none of your business».  
«It’s disgusting» Peridot says. 

Yellow snarls. 

«Don’t you dare».  
«It’s disgusting! Now give me back my enhancer!»  
«You want it back? Fine!» 

The next thing that can be heard from out the barn is the loud bump of the foot being thrown against Peridot’s forehead, and then Yellow strides away, muttering something between her teeth. 

 

*** 

 

Peridot notices it and immediately decides to take advantage from it. 

She notices how Yellow’s stiffens when somebody touches her unexpectedly, or abruptly. She notices how her body tenses, how her eyes close, and if she’d think about it just a few seconds more she would realize that maybe, _maybe_ , she’s not a complete stranger to these gestures, but she believes she has found her trump card so she moves. 

Yellow is checking the plans on the board when Peridot walks behind her, and she doesn’t notice. Peridot raises one hand – as much as she needs to, which is also as much as she can, she realizes with nuisance – and pats Yellow’s back. Hard, harder than she should, closer to a slap than anything else.  
Yellow doesn’t jump. She goes still – completely, utterly, incredibly still – and after a couple of seconds, when she turns around, Peridot notices how her pupils have narrowed in little spots. 

«Did I scare you?» she grins. 

Yellow frowns, but she doesn’t relax. She takes a breath. 

«Leave me alone». 

She turns around again and Peridot’s smirk turns into a scowl. She expected to start a fight, again – because _that’s_ funny, _that’s_ satisfying – but she didn’t and she wants to. 

«Look at me when I’m talking to you!» she calls, and slaps Yellow’s back again. Yellow stiffens for the second time, her arms immobile on the blackboard, her fingers clutching at its edges.  
If her eyes weren’t closed, they’d be fluttering around, searching for someone. But her eyes are shut. 

«Stop» she whispers. It’s all the voice she has. Not enough to be heard from the other side of the barn.  
«Speak up!» Peridot orders, and she pushes. Yellow stumbles forward and only because her hands are already on the blackboard she doesn’t clash onto it.

«I will do whatever I want» Peridot affirms, crossing her arms. «What do you say to that?» 

Yellow doesn’t move. Head against the board, she murmurs: «Please». 

Peridot’s smirk enlarges. The feeling of victory overflows her and, for a few moments, she thinks that everything is finally alright, that sanity is coming back to this wretched and somewhat fascinating planet. 

«That’s what I wanted to hear» she says, but she can’t conclude.  
«Please» Yellow repeats, her voice shaking, «you act just like _her_ ». 

And this is all she needs to say for things to change. 

Her words make silence fall upon the two of them. Peridot’s mouth remains half-open, she blinks. Yellow’s slow breaths – she doesn’t need air but she _does_ , oh, she does – are all that marks the time passing by.  
When she finally regains a composure and stands back upright, turning around, Peridot talks. She scratches the back of her head.  
She feels small, smaller, _smaller_. 

«Oh» she murmurs. «So – she – To you, too?»  
«Yes» Yellow answers in a breath.  
«Oh». 

She looks away.  
There is silence for a while, again. None of them moves. 

«I thought» Peridot spurts, «that you, being her Pearl… I mean – I believed-»  
«What?» Yellow interrupts her, she frowns, but her voice is too tired out to be as harsh as her expression. «If anything, that made it even worse. She discharged on me even when it wasn’t my fault at all». 

Peridot shifts from one foot to the other, biting her lip. Yellow’s arms are crossed, and she clutches at her own skin as if this is the only hug she could ever have. 

(It’s not – not anymore – but old habits are hard to die). 

«You – I» Peridot stutters again, «I didn’t realize it. I mean – you don’t react like _I_ do. You just – you – I didn’t connect-»  
«You jump to defend yourself, don’t you?» Yellow intervenes again. Peridot nods, she still doesn’t look at her. «White told me. She said she laughed at you. She said that she thought about it only later, that she, too, didn’t connect immediately your reaction to the cause – because she’s too used to, well, me». 

Peridot’s eyes flutter on her for just an instant, remembering only vaguely when Garnet patted her back and she screamed, and they laughed, and Peridot was relieved that they had because _clods like those couldn’t understand _.  
But Yellow does. __

__«I used to do it too, once» Yellow admits. She loses her glare in the sky, maybe it’s only the sunlight that makes her eyes look teary. «But then it changed, years before White and Blue even discovered about it. What use was to raise my arms, scream, protect myself? Better just take the hits and pray the stars it’d be over soon»._ _

__Peridot hums. She hesitates to ask how much time Yellow has been on Homeworld. She’s afraid to hear the number of years that took Yellow to give up her defense – or even worse, she’s afraid to discover that, if she hadn’t come to Earth, the same thing could have happened to her, soon._ _

«Why do you think we do it?» she asks instead, rubbing her thumbs together behind her back. «Why do we hide this?»  
«Because they told us it was a privilege» Yellow answers. Her voice changes tone, it goes hard and full of hate, her eyes still lost in the sky. «They told us it was our fault, that we were made for this, that we were lucky she was even looking at us. They told us everything but the truth».  
«And what is the truth?»  
«That she was wrong and it’s not our fault». 

Peridot bites her lip again. She raises her eyes just when Yellow lowers hers, so their glares meet. 

«Did you understand it by yourself?» Peridot wonders, cautiously, almost reverent. There is a sudden respect grown in her, a low delight for having someone to talk to that _knows_. 

__Yellow shakes her head, smiling ruefully._ _

«No, of course not» she confesses. «White told be and Blue hugged me until I believed it. It took time».  
«You had it worse» Peridot concedes.  
«There is no worse. It’s bad anyway. Even if it happened only once». 

It hasn’t happened only once, of course, to neither of them. But Peridot looks at Yellow, she thinks of how she works and smiles and laughs with the other two and realizes how strong she is.  
It’s admirable. 

«I apologize» Peridot says. It’s sincere.  
«For what?» Yellow inquires.  
«For my actions, and my words. And the shoulder pad».  
«Blue fixed it. She’s better than me at sewing».  
«You are no less of me, and I will respect it from now on». 

__Peridot bows her head a little and notices that Blue and Pearl are turning around the corner of the barn, walking towards them. She snaps her tongue, looks at Yellow one last time, and then walks away._ _

__«Peridot»._ _

__She stops._ _

__«What?»  
«When you called her a clod, that was pretty amazing». _ _

Peridot smiles for a couple of seconds and disappears.  
Yellow watches her walk away until she can hear Blue’s steps behind her. She turns and lets Blue hug her, smiling, and kiss her on the cheek.  
Pearl reaches them, raises one eyebrow. 

«Was Peridot bothering you?» she asks.  
«No» Yellow says. «We were just sharing old memories».  
«About what?»  
«Kiss me and maybe I’ll tell you». 


End file.
